Ray Hawthorne Team With Pouyan Afkary For New Track 'Habits'
(EM) Ray Hawthorne has today unveiled new single, "Habits" ft. Pouyan Afkary of Scary Kids Scaring Kids, a collaboration that draws from different corners of the heavier alt spectrum. At the center of "Habits" is a pop punk anthem that keeps moving, but only in circles, with every turn bringing Ray Hawthorne back to the same shame, the same patterns, and ultimately, the same unresolved ending.
Bringing one of the record's sharpest tracks into focus, "Habits" pairs Ray Hawthorne's instinct for self-sabotage with Pouyan Afkary's harder edge for a wider scope of the song's central spiral. Refusing to resolve, "Habits" traps Ray Hawthorne in a loop, circling the damage to the point where it starts sounding like his identity.
Pouyan Afkary is a founding member of one of the most influential bands to come out of the mid-2000's post-hardcore wave, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, bringing keyboards, atmosphere, and a distinct sense of tension that helped shape a cornerstone of the band's DNA. On Ray Hawthorne's "Habits", Pouyan Afkary carries that legacy into a different corner of the genre, connecting Ray Hawthorne's pop-punk spiral to a voice that helped define an entire era of heavy, emotionally charged alt music.
About stepping into Ray Hawthorne's world for "Habits", Pouyan Afkary shares: "It was great writing with Ray and Pete. Ray and I met outside a comedy club in Hollywood and hit it off right away. You don't expect random encounters like that to turn into a collaboration, but once we got in the studio everything clicked. There was a great vibe from the start, and 'Habits' came together really quickly."
Looking back on writing "Habits", Ray Hawthorne is candid, as always: "When I was younger my friend Bruce and I spent no less than 45 minutes watching a music video on YouTube. The video wasn't actually 45 minutes long, it just kept buffering because my internet connection was sh*t. So we'd let it buffer a bit, press play and then watch like 5 seconds of the video until it had to buffer again. No joke. 45 minutes of this. I can already hear you asking "Ray, what music video could possibly be worth all of that struggle?" Well I'm here to tell you that video was My Darkest Hour by Scary Kids Scaring Kids. If you've never seen it, stop what you're doing and watch it. Just a bunch of homies rocking out in a van and even f***ing crowdsurfing at one point. Iconic. I can't imagine the budget on this video was very large but to this day its one of the most creative videos I've seen. I've got a million stories about how much their music means to me but I won't bore you. So imagine my excitement randomly meeting and getting to work with Pouyan from SKSK, definitely one of those full circle moments. Great dude and a great player. We also shot a music video for our song, there's no van crowdsurfing or comedic stoplight moments, but I still think its fun"
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